No media will play unless headphones are plugged in or connected via bluetooth.

Question

Level 1

8 points

No media will play unless headphones are plugged in or connected via bluetooth.

Video playback does not happen without headphones being plugged in or without a bluetooth speaker (or BT headphones) connected.

Imagine playing back a timeline in PPro, AE, FCX, Resolve, QT and you’re monitoring it though headphones. You unplug the headphones and the playback stops. The play button becomes inoperable. Plug the headphones back in and you’re good to go. Same behavior across all of the programs you might ever think of to play video/audio. Nothing works unless you’re plugged in/connected.

By default the audio wants to come out of the mac's speakers. But with those selected as the output device, then video/audio will not play. Once headphones are plugged in or connected via bluetooth then the external speakers are no longer the selected output device and everything works great.

Any ideas? Any history with this problem?

Thanks.

2021 MBP 16

M1Pro/16 GB

Ventura 13.5.1

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.5

Posted on Aug 31, 2023 2:21 PM

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Answer 1

Grace2211

Community Specialist

Sep 1, 2023 12:13 PM in response to neumannfx

Hi Neumannfx,

We see that you're not able to use the internal speakers on your Mac. We'd like to provide you with a few steps that may be able to assist you:

"Check your sound settings

First, disconnect any cables from the USB, Thunderbolt, or 3.5mm audio ports on your Mac.

From the Apple menu , choose System Settings (or System Preferences).
Click Sound.
Click the Output tab, then select the built-in speakers. If you don’t see built-in speakers as an option in the Output window, contact Apple Support.
If the Output volume slider is set low, move the slider to the right and test again.
If the Mute checkbox is selected, deselect it and test again.
If you still don’t hear any sound, contact Apple Support."

You can find more details here: If the internal speakers on your Mac aren't working

Thanks for connecting with Apple Support Communities.

Have a wonderful day!

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Answer 2

neumannfx Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 1, 2023 2:11 PM in response to Grace2211

Well, that's not helpful at all. The problem is twofold. Yes, the internal speakers on the macbook aren't putting out sound. But why won't ANY video players work without headphones being plugged in or bluetooth earbuds/speakers being connected? Where's the connection to these two things. And just so you know, the output for the speakers is selected by default (it's the only option available) but the sliders are greyed out as well.

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